Lot 551: Attributed to ALBERT SANDS SOUTHWORTH (1811-1894) AND JOSIAH JOHNSON HAWES (1808-1901)

Attributed to ALBERT SANDS SOUTHWORTH (1811-1894) AND JOSIAH JOHNSON HAWES (1808-1901)
Niagara Suspension Bridge, c. 1855
sixth-plate daguerreotype
3¼ x 2¾in. (8 x 7cm.)

Sobieszek and Appel, Spirit of Fact: The Daguerreotypes of Southworth & Hawes, 1843-1862, David R. Godine, 1976, pl. 97, p. 113, same as the fig.; Romer and Wallis, eds., Young America: The Daguerreotypes of Southworth & Hawes, Steidl G.E.H. I.C.P., 2005, cat. no. 1875, p. 472

With John Craig; acquired c. 1985

The Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge was the world's first working railway suspension bridge. It spanned 825 feet (251 m.) and stood 2.5 miles (4.0 km.) downstream of Niagara Falls from 1855 to 1897. Connecting Niagara Falls, Ontario to Niagara Falls, New York (the two cities assimilated the towns at the ends of the bridge by 1892), the bridge carried mixed traffic on its two decks across the Niagara River; trains crossed over the river by way of the bridge's upper deck while pedestrians and carriages used the lower. As the bridge was the result of a collaboration of two companies from two countries, it was also known by its American name, the International Suspension Bridge. The bridge had other names including the Niagara Railway Suspension Bridge and Niagara Suspension Bridge, but the most common and definitive was simply the Suspension Bridge.

This sixth-plate daguerreotype has been attributed to Southworth & Hawes because it appears to be the same exposure as the known whole- plate daguerreotype (see fig.). Only the image is reversed. Since a daguerreotype is a unique camera-original, duplicates can only be made by copying the original daguerreotype. The image in a camera-original is always reversed. It was common practice to re-photograph a daguerreotype for at least two reasons. The first was to have a duplicate and the second was to reverse the image so that objects, such as signage, can be read properly.